<p>D wants a Mac. Can someone explain why they are more than twice as much as a Dell or HP?</p>
<p>I think we are planning to get S a Mac even though he is going the Engineering route. Weāll have to do some more research, but the initial queries seem to have been met with the idea that either operating system was fine.</p>
<p>any more updates, post here:</p>
<p><a href=āhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/659011-decisions-class-2013-a.html[/url]ā>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/659011-decisions-class-2013-a.html</a></p>
<p>JSM - theyāre just cooler. Havenāt you seen the MAC guy? Much more hip than the old PC guy.</p>
<p>Chi, thatās what I thought. She wants to get the MacBook Air.</p>
<p>:rollseyes:</p>
<p>While youāll still have to probably buy microsoft office to truly make a mac compatible in the word department, I switched to a mac a few years ago and now wonder whatever took me so long. It is MUCH more intuitive and it seamlessly cooridnates on a lot of levels, including the ever-popular itunes. Plus the new models have that built in camera. And the bottom line? I have never had an issue mechanically with my Mac where I have lost information. In fact, when you do have service issues, the customer service at Mac is far and away the bestā¦ both in learning the system and figuring out a host of other things. It seems that I get a new laptop and I there is no problem with passing down the old ones. My sister got a new one and gave her old one to the kids as well. They might not be as fast or have as much memory or what4ever, but when it comes to two people needing to write an english paper at the same time, weāve never lost a computer yet.</p>
<p>Blinker
WPI does placement tests?
I thought they just took you AP credits (if you get a 4 or 5)
Guess I better go peruse the site again</p>
<p>S hands me a printout last night with the computer he wants -$3600!!! No way</p>
<p>WPI recommends PCs over MACs - citing that most of the schools software will not run on a MAC - so those in engineering should definitely check with their school programs to see what software they run
Sās dream computer appears to be the Dell XPS M1730 and the price I quoted was the subtotal BEFORE all his dream add-ons</p>
<p>theorymom, I think you can get a dell studio xps 16 for $1,299 ($403 instant savings) with Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB hard drive, HD 3670 512 MB video card, 3-year warranty, battery life of 3:41. At least, I saw this deal a day or so ago. That seems to meet the specs of most schools, although the video card isnāt good enough for serious gaming.</p>
<p>Things are swiftly moving along. D received this notice about housing:</p>
<p>The room and roommate preference system is closed for summer 2009 and fall 2009. No more preferences can be accepted as we prepare room assignments</p>
<p>Good morning! Thanks, TheAnalyst, for opening up our new room.</p>
<p>The Mac deals usually do begin in June. And itās worth noting that in addition to the deals, theyāll generally give you a college/academic discount on everything - you just have to show your college ID or a bill or some other official document (since students who havenāt matriculated yet usually donāt have IDs yet). Bear in mind that if you have a h.s. kid taking SUNY or SUPA classes (in NY), or comparable college-linked classes in other states, the Apple store will recognize that and award you the college discount, even if your kid is still a sophomore, junior, etc. </p>
<p>Weāre a bilingual family - two Macs (three, if you count my ancient desktop) and two PCs. Weāve had Macs since 1990 and have never had a problem that wasnāt promptly and satisfactorily resolved. But my H and S1 love their PCs, too. Not sure what weāll do for S1, partly because of that. Weād like to get him a new laptop as a graduation present, but I donāt think he knows yet what he wants.</p>
<p>ā¦and I have joined the 21st century. Signed up for Twitter because I read that Dās college is on it. So Iām āfollowingā (I believe that is how you say it) her college. And Stephen Colbert.</p>
<p>boy that extra inch seems to jack the price up</p>
<p>That is a HUGE difference. Iāll query him when he gets back from his AP exam today</p>
<h1>theory ā the info about course selection procedures for A & B terms and the math placement test is in a letter S got on Monday. āDear members of the Class of 2013ā¦ā The letter says ALL students are required to take the placement test to determine which level of Calculus to start with.</h1>
<p>S currently has a Mac laptop he loves, but yeah, he was thinking heād need a PC. (He/we havenāt scoped out the computer thing w/ WPI yet.) Knowing him, heāll take both.</p>
<p>ChiSquare, I <em>love</em> Twitter! I follow both my older kids, Hās company, Colbert - and my favorite, Sockington the cat. 
(Go look him up!)</p>
<p>I sgned up for Twitter because someone asked me to. But itās a black hole - I donāt have a clue as to how to follow anyone and havenāt received any messages.</p>
<p>Any one else considering ordering laundry service?
Pros/cons?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>For our students or for ourselves?</p>
<p>missypie, happy to give you a walk-through if you really want it.</p>
<p>I actually signed up initially to get tweets from Dās athletic conference, so I could get scores during games without actually watching the livestats during meetings. Or, um, not watching livestats THE WHOLE TIME.</p>
<h1>theorymom, S1ās school doesnāt offer laundry service. Our deal is S1 will be taking Laundry 101 from me as soon as his last AP exam is over.</h1>
<p>CCCBlinker
hmmm I guess I misunderstood what the math prof said when he said a 4 or 5 on the AP would determine where he started.
I donāt think it matters to him where he starts though since he is planning on doing the Analysis Sequence option instead of the normal Calc sequence so heāll do it from the start. The AP test will still give him some credits evidently.
Iāll research his papers and see what we have to do re math placement</p>